Guy Kawasaki says remarkability means making a difference, not chasing fame or money. He interviewed 200 remarkable people and found they all follow the same pattern: do something good, then people notice. His framework is growth, grit, and grace—learning skills, doing hard work, and giving back after you succeed.
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I'd like to ask you, what do you think it means to you for people to be remarkable?
What it means to me is that you have made a difference in the world. That is, you have contributed to society and there are many ways to contribute. I don't want people to think that you have to be Steve Jobs or Jane Goodall, both remarkable people. You can change and make a difference for one person, one classroom, one team, one company. It could even be yourself. And you could create artistic works that, you know, is a painting that is appreciated by many people. But, you know, it's not everybody has to be Mother Teresa to be remarkable. And, you know, my podcast is called Remarkable People. It's not called Rich People, and it's not called Famous People. And my book is called Think Remarkable, Not Think Rich, and Not Think Fame. So to me, the test is that, well, I think as I look back on my career, there have been roughly three stages. So stage one is you're underpaid, stage two is you're overpaid, and stage three is you pay back. And I think remarkable people hit stage three that they realize it's no longer about them and not about their fame and fortune and all that. It's basically how do you want to be remembered? As someone who created a billion dollar company or someone who made the world a better place?
Absolutely. And I think, yeah, a lot of people do get focused on seeking fame and fortune and going beyond that. Seems like a good thing to do.
If I can interject a thought here, which you just triggered, which is, I've interviewed about 200 remarkable people. You know, I do not believe that the way it works is one day you get up and you say, you know what? I'm going to be remarkable from now on. I'm going to position myself as a thought leader, as a visionary, as going to write a book. I'm going to make speeches, you know, from now on, I'm going to make people think I'm remarkable. I think the way you become remarkable is you do something good, you make a difference. It could be a personal computer, it could be, you know, ending pollution in a local river in your. In your home. Not in your home, but, you know, at your house. Not at your house, but you know what I'm saying? And so, like, you know, I can't imagine Steve Jobs woke up one day and said, you know what? I'm going to position myself as a thought leader and a visionary, and what do I need to do? I think that remarkable people, they wake up in the morning and they say, I'm going to help educate people. I'm going to help make people more creative or more productive, or I'm going to end plastic pollution, or, you know, I'm going to create a beautiful work of art. And if you do that, then I think the people around you will have no choice but to consider that you are remarkable. So the sequence is not chicken or egg. There's a definite sequence. You make a difference. You do something great, people will think you're remarkable. It's not because you decided to be remarkable one day.
Okay. Yeah. So somehow you just got to figure out how to achieve it. And I like that your book has a framework for, like, getting to remarkableness. So you've got these three ideas in there. So it's growth and grit and grace. Can you tell me how you arrived at those three things and how they make you remarkable?
I'm going to have to take you into the kitchen to show you how the sausage is made. So some of it is. Some of it is just the realization after doing all these interviews that all these remarkable people, they grew. They didn't. You know, you're not born naturally a Jane Goodall or a Steve Jobs. I think you acquire skills and interests and passions and, you know, you gain perspective. You grow. Duh. But all of that growth doesn't come without grit. You have to work hard. And then the third stage, as I said, is that what once you have achieved success and once you have made a difference, I think people realize that the next stage is giving back, and that's grace. So that's the philosophical level. At a more tactical level, I love tricolons. You know, I came, I saw, I conquered. Right. I love tricolons and I love alliteration. So I think it is an act of genius that I found not only a tricolon, but alliteration that fit what I wanted to say. Growth, grit and grace. Three words, all beginning with gr. All single. Single syllable, man. Right there. Right there. You should buy the book.
It's a perfect slogan, really. I pity the translators, though, who changed the book into different languages. It's going to be.
